Interactive Animation House Toonstar Launches AI Creators Studio On Back Of Parker James Series

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Taylor Sheridan‘s upcoming Paramount+ series “Land Man” has added four new series regulars, Variety has learned exclusively. Kayla Wallace (“When Calls The Heart”), frequent Sheridan collaborator James Jordan (“Yellowstone”) Mark Collie (“Nashville”) and Paulina Chávez (“The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia”) have all joined the series alongside previously announced lead Billy Bob Thornton and fellow series regulars Ali Larter, Michelle Randolph and Jacob Lofland.

EXCLUSIVE: Tatanka Means (Killers of the Flower Moon) has landed a heavily recurring role in the Netflix drama series Ransom Canyon, based on the book series by Jodi Thomas. He joins previously announced Josh Duhamel, Minka Kelly, James Brolin, Eoin Macken and Lizzy Greene.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Netflix has picked up worldwide rights to “The Imaginary,” a currently-on-release Japanese animation film from producer Studio Ponoc. “Studio Ponoc is thrilled to bring our storytelling and innovative hand-drawn, hand-painted animated films to all audiences, and in particular to children and their families to enjoy together, around the world on Netflix,” said Nishimura Yoshiaki, Ponoc founder and former Studio Ghibli producer. The film is directed by Momose Yoshiyuki, who has credits on Ponoc’s 2017 title “Mary and the Witch’s Flower” and others on Ghibli’s “Spirited Away,” “Princess Mononoke” and “Porco Rosso.” Adapted from a novel by A.F. Harold, with a screenplay by Nishimura, the film “portrays the depths of humanity and creativity through the eyes of young Amanda and her imaginary companion, Rudger.

Road House, will be boycotting the film’s premiere after Amazon Prime Video decided on a streaming-only release.The remake of the 1989 film starring Patrick Swayze will star Jake Gyllenhaal as an ex-UFC fighter who ends up working in a roadhouse in the Florida Keys.In an open letter published by Deadline, Liman wrote that he will “not be attending” the film’s premiere in Texas at the SXSW film festival in March.The Edge Of Tomorrow director wrote: “The movie is fantastic, maybe my best, and I’m sure it will bring the house down and possibly have the audience dancing in their seats during the end credits. But I will not be there.”His letter called out Amazon for the decision saying: “Contrary to their public statements, Amazon has no interest in supporting cinemas.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large TV promo firm Planet 365 has created a new service dubbed “Brandit247” and targeted at local TV stations with limited marketing departments and resources. The marketing content would be tailored for the station, which can then insert footage of its on-air team and other local elements.

A man who deliberately set fire to a three-story animation studio in the Japanese city of Kyoto in 2019, killing 36 people, has been sentenced to death for mass murder.

Road House remake yesterday, along with the debut poster, and now we can reveal that the Doug Lyman-directed film will open this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. We also have the first trailer for the film which you can check out below.Led by Jake Gyllenhaal, the film features Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams, Joaquim de Almeida, Conor McGregor, Lukas Gage, Arturo Castro, B.K.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A Japanese court on Thursday announced the death sentence for Aoba Shinji, the man who burned down the Kyoto Anime studio in 2019 and killed 36 people. There was little doubt that Aoba, who himself was badly burned in the blaze, was the perpetrator and set the fire using gasoline. Shortly after the attack, at a press conference, the Kyoto police said that Aoba had unspecified mental health issues.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Malin Åkerman has been cast in a leading role of the Starz series adaptation of the May Cobb novel “The Hunting Wives,” Variety has learned. Åkerman will appear in the role of Margo Banks. The series was ordered at the premium cabler back in October 2023.

EXCLUSIVE: Marianly Tejada (One of Us Is Lying), Jack Schumacher (Top Gun: Maverick), Garrett Wareing (Manifest), and Andrew Liner (Vampire Academy) have joined Ransom Canyon as series regulars. Also cast in the Netflix drama series as recurring are Brett Cullen (Winning Time), Grey’s Anatomy alumna Kate Burton, Jaren Robledo (Rez Ball), Jennifer Ens (Chapelwaite), Kenneth Miller (The Cleaning Lady), Niko Guardado, Justin Johnson Cortez and Casey W. Johnson. Philip Winchester (Strike Back) will guest star.

The cast of Ransom Canyon just got bigger!

EXCLUSIVE: James Brolin, La Brea star Eoin Macken and A Million Little Things alumna Lizzy Greene are set as leads opposite Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly in Netflix‘s upcoming drama series Ransom Canyon.

Studio Ghibli‘s animated adventure movie The Boy and the Heron is continuing to blaze a trail for anime, in Europe, Asia and North America.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Telefonica’s Movistar Plus+, Spain’s biggest pay TV-SVOD operator, is set to co-produce new movies from Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Iciar Bollaín, Alberto Rodríguez, Óliver Laxe and Ana Rujas. It’s a move which sees the high-end Spanish TV powerhouse become one of Spain’s most significant movie players.

Naman Ramachandran A screening of Isabel Herguera‘s San Sebastian winner “Sultana’s Dream” will kickstart the inaugural edition of AniMela, India’s first-ever international festival for animation, VFX, XR, gaming and comics, in Mumbai. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Herguera, alongside her Spanish and Indian crew, including Indian animation expert Upamanyu Bhattacharyya.

Leonardo DiCaprio has revealed that he recommended two films from animation studio, Studio Ghibli, for director Martin Scorsese to watch.Speaking with Letterboxd earlier this week, the two Hollywood stars, who recently collaborated on their sixth movie together, Killers Of The Flower Moon, opened up about DiCaprio’s recommendations, which were both created by Hayao Miyazaki.“I was asked what films I introduced to you, but considering you’ve seen every film ever made up until 1980, it’s pretty hard to say,” DiCaprio said to the director.“Other than maybe Spirited Away – Miyazaki’s films – and maybe Princess Monoke,” he continued.Scorsese responded: “It was Spirited Away you told me to watch,”The 2001 animated fantasy movie was a huge success, crossing more than $395million at the box office against a $19.2million budget, and winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards.The 1997 movie, Princess Monoke was also a critical and commercial success, and held Japan’s box office record for domestic films until the release of Spirited Away.

Chainsaw Man leads the field with a dominant 25 nominations for Crunchyroll‘s eighth annual Anime Awards, which be handed out in March. It will compete for the marquee Anime of the Year prize against Bocchi the Rock!, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc, Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, Oshi No Ko and Vinland Saga Season 2. 

Jet2 has brought forward the launch date of a new route from Manchester Airport to a popular Portuguese city break destination following a surge in interest. The airline and holiday operator will now launch flights and holidays with Jet2CityBreaks to Porto this summer.

Manchester United have inserted a buy-back option into Sevilla's agreement to sign Hannibal Mejbri.

Netflix’s Fool Me Once, many fans will be looking for a new Harlan Coben adaptation to get their fix – check out the highest rated options below.The eight-part series Fool Me Once is just the latest adaptation of the mystery and thriller writer’s work that has been created for the streaming service.In the show, a family has been rocked by a pair of murders, when Michelle Keegan’s Maya sees her murdered husband Joe (Richard Armitage) back as an intruder. At the same time, Maya’s niece Abby and nephew Daniel are investigating the murder of their mother, drawing connections between the two cases.In 2018, Coben signed a multi-million dollar five-year contract with Netflix, which stipulated that 14 of his novels would be developed into series or films on the service, with Coben reserving the right to serve as executive producer on all of them.